The Associated Press |
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, left, and head coach Jason Garrett, second from right, stand with their players for the national anthem prior to an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals in September.

Editorial: Cowboys owner has right idea on anthem protests

As in any workplace, management gets to make the rules. In this case, itís best for all concerned.

It's been a few weeks since President Donald Trump made remarks that brought NFL player protests during the national anthem to the forefront of the national debate. Needless to say, the controversy hardly has died down.

Many football fans desperately wish that they could enjoy watching the games without feeling as though they have to take a side in a political debate, but it seems as though some players are determined to keep this up for the foreseeable future.

There's one clear solution to the problem, and that is for the people in charge of the teams and the league to do something about it.

Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, clearly impatient with the festering problem and its negative impact on the league, made a statement last weekend that we'd like to hear from other team owners.

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"If we are disrespecting the flag then we won't play. Period," Jones said, according to the Dallas Morning News. "We're going to respect the flag, and I'm going to create the perception of it."

Meanwhile, the Miami Dolphins have enacted a team policy requiring players on the sideline to stand during the national anthem. Those who don't wish to do so must wait in the tunnel leading to the field. It's a fair policy. The team is under no obligation to give players a platform to make a political statement by drawing attention to themselves during the few minutes devoted to paying respect to the American flag.

This is not a First Amendment issue. NFL teams are employers, and their stadiums are workplaces. Team owners and the league itself are perfectly entitled to establish rules for behavior on what amounts to company time. If someone is wearing the team uniform and standing on the team's sideline, it is up to the team to decide what they may or may not do. Players should engage in political activity on their own time.

Even those who see no problem with the protests should realize by now that many Americans are deeply offended by what the players are doing. Even if the intent is not to show disrespect for the nation, that is how people are taking it. This is hurting the league, and there's little evidence that the protesters' point is getting across.

We understand that players do not want to hand Trump a victory here. We didn't like the way he approached this issue when he brought it up during an Alabama speech, and we didn't like his political stunt of instructing Vice President Mike Pence to leave a game in Indianapolis where some players, as expected, kneeled during the anthem. We would prefer that the president appear to be trying to heal divisions rather than deepen them. But feeding on dissension is a big part of his political strategy, and players should realize they're in a losing battle here. They showed defiance against Trump with displays of team unity in which even team executives such as Jones took part. Now it's in their best interests to move on and take their protests to a venue outside their workplace if they wish.

Leaders of the Denver Broncos got it right when they decided two weeks ago to move on from the anthem protests. Safety Justin Simmons put it well: "We just feel like as a team, it's bringing more negative attention than it is positive. So, we made our point the one time we did it. The awareness of the social injustices are out there."

He's absolutely right. We hope his fellow players around the league follow suit and put all the attention back on the field where it belongs.